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touchdown in the opening moments of the second half, the runner took the ball at the 6-yard line and reached the 19 before being swarmed under. Just as the runner went down, O'Brien was belted by a Penn State blocker. "I do have a very clear memory of get- ting drilled by one Penn State kid on a kickoff return," Tom said. "I was in the wedge formation group, and the kid caught me before I was kind of set and I went flying on my back. I remem- ber getting grief about that the next week from the special teams coach when we looked at the film." That "Penn State kid" was No. 53, a freshman linebacker named Don Gra- ham. Three years and two months lat- er, Graham would be singled out in an iconic photograph used by newspapers all over the country to exemplify Penn State's 14-10 upset win over Miami at the Fiesta Bowl for the national cham- pionship. Graham is seen with his arms raised triumphantly as he stands over Miami quarterback Vinny Tes- taverde following one of five sacks the Penn State defense made that night. It is one of the most famous photo- graphs in Penn State football history. "That's awesome," Tom said upon hearing about the photo. "That makes me feel a little bit better. Maybe I can take another shot at him now that we are in our 40s?" As for Tom making a tackle on a kick- off, there is no video evidence. On the opening kickoff, the game film shows No. 59 definitely on the sideline, near the Penn State 44-yard line, standing between No. 64 – sophomore middle guard Ted Moskala – on his right and No. 94 – junior defensive end Scott Gra- ham – on his left as Penn State's Kevin Baugh spurts up the sideline across the field in front of the Penn State bench to the Lions' 46-yard line. Neither game video shows No. 59 involved in the other three kickoffs, including the last one, which went into the end zone without a return with 1:41 to play. But Tom still believes he was in on one of the kickoffs in the second half. "I remember at one point on one play going after somebody and doing a face plant on the sideline as my face mask hit the ground at the end of the play and dug in." O'Brien said. "And I can remember getting up, and there were cheerleaders around, Penn State or Brown cheerleaders, and wondering, 'Where the hell am I?' " The cheerleaders stick to the end zones, so O'Brien's hit may have been out of camera range. More than like- ly, it was on the last kickoff that went into the end zone. The game ended shortly after that kickoff, and Tom is seen on the game film walking off the sideline onto the field behind No. 92, sophomore defen- sive end Bruce Taylor, and shaking hands immediately with Penn State's No. 67. Until interviewed for this sto- ry, Tom did not realize he was meeting the future nose guard of Penn State's 1986 national championship team, Mike Russo, then a true freshman. At the conclusion of the TCS telecast, play-by-play announcer Stan Savran and analyst George Paterno (a former Brown player), commented about the sometimes lackluster play by Penn State and the determination shown by Brown. Paterno probably summed things up best: "The game kind of re- minded me of a big brother wrestling with his little brother and didn't want to hurt him, and when the little broth- er started acting up, [the big brother] exerted more of his strength. ... It was a tremendous effort by Brown, and the kids never stopped trying." The Brown players took their time leaving the field, many of them seek- ing out Joe Paterno for handshakes. "One of the last clear memories I have is at the end of the game when we all shook hands," said Tom, now the managing partner of the HYM In- vestment Group in Boston. "Paterno came through and shook a lot of our hands, and he said, 'I'm really proud of you guys. You fought hard.' It was very nice. He was very kind to us, and it was a big deal. I remember walking over to the crowd of players and being in a clump of players right there with him, but I don't know if I got close enough to actually shake his hand. It all happened so fast. At the end, we all felt pretty good. I am still in contact with a lot of my teammates, and we still talk about that game. It was a great experience." That was the last time Penn State played an Ivy League team. And there is one more thing. When brother Bill reads this he'll have an even better story to tell about his older brother Tom, but he'll have to remem- ber that Tom wasn't a sophomore that season but a junior. Can't remember everything when you were 14 years old. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 31

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